Carmelo Abela’s Talking Point (September 27), illustrating Labour’s takeover of PBS, confirms what the Nationalist Party has been saying all along. For Labour, everything has a price but nothing has value.
When Abela talks about PBS, it is like his only focus is how to make money disappear. He boasts about the way producers had their contracts changed to overhaul the selling of advertising under one roof and how the entire focus of this reform is “financial stability”.
What he does not say is that the first part of his plan was to throw €6 million of taxpayers’ money to PBS each year after the company’s debt ballooned to €10 million following eight years of Labour.
Labour loves to throw taxpayers’ money at financial problems it creates itself, especially when this can be done under the veil of commercial secrecy. Why? Because it gives more opportunities to hand over jobs to the boys.
“These developments are all aimed at structural positive change,” the minister claims. “This has nothing to do with PBS’s editorial policy - the topics discussed in news and news shows or what news items are carried and which are binned.”
Of course, Abela has no interest in reforming how editorial decisions are taken. The status quo serves him fine. What would a Labour minister want more than a news channel that acts as a notice board for Labour ministers?
Just imagine watching the news in any other European country and only seeing a roster of ministers boasting about their latest taxpayer-funded project.
Still, Abela has found a way to make things even better for Labour ministers. He now added a second channel to conduct more Labour propaganda, 24 hours a day.
Yes, Abela’s reform is to remove all forms of political discussion from TVM (so it’s just entertainment and Labour government notice-board news) and then he wants a second channel to provide even more Labour government notice-board news 24 hours a day, as well as a selection of Labour-approved current affairs shows.
The ‘tangible reform’, spearheaded by Abela, is not just lacking in credibility because of the man leading it. It is also lacking in credibility because of all the other decisions this government has taken on media.
This PBS ‘reform’ fails to provide any level of transparency or accountability to how €6 million is being spent per year
In the past years, we have seen a veritable exodus of independent-minded journalists. We have seen the dismantling of current-affairs shows that were not afraid to hold the government accountable.
We have seen the total elimination of debate-style discussions. And we have seen Robert Abela literally take over the news with prime-time press conferences at his whim.
Robert Abela has also shied away from interviews and debates, showing that all this is not coincidental but part of a wider strategy. This is a dangerous playbook typical of anti-democracies.
Worryingly, all of this is Labour’s response to a public inquiry whose judges found Labour’s government responsible for fostering a culture of impunity that led to a journalist’s murder.
This is Labour’s response to a public inquiry that found PBS failed in its mission to cover the most important stories and keep the public informed.
Not only is this supposed ‘reform’ being fronted by Carmelo Abela, one of the main faces of Labour’s continued impunity.
Not only does the ‘reform’ fail to address the key issue of editorial takeover by government.
But, to make matters worse, this ‘reform’ fails to provide any level of transparency or accountability to how €6 million is being spent per year. No wonder Carmelo Abela has his hands all over it.
Meanwhile, the Nationalist Party is studying PBS closely. Each day, we are publishing a breakdown of the news coverage being given.
The numbers are stark and require no additional comment. For example, 109 sound bites given to Labour ministers versus zero for Nationalist shadow ministers.
What Malta needs is an urgent reform of broadcasting to ensure fairness, full respect of the constitution, the guarantee of viewers’ right to information, full transparency for taxpayers and a better system of monitoring and enforcement that is not exclusive to political interests.
A new Nationalist government will make the decisions Malta needs on broadcasting.
David Agius is PN deputy leader and Alessia Psaila Zammit is a PN candidate.